Percussion fuse



N. E. METHLIN March 18, 1930.

. Filed April 29. 1929 1 v I 1;: I

1 I a 1 2 V f J0 i J Imelda? W hw /mu.

attorneys.

Patented Mar. 18, 1930 FF STATES NICOLAS EMILIEN ME'lI-ILIN, OF PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR T SCHNEIDER & GIE, OF PARIS, FRANCE, A LIMITED JOINT-STOCK COMPANY OF FRANCE PERCUSSION FUSE.

Application filed April 29, 1929, Serial No.. 359,089, and in France July 20, 1928.

The invention relates to a safety device for preventing the operation of supersensitive percussion fuses While the projectile is travelling over a portion of its trajectory which is too near the muzzle of the gun. The safety device is more particularly intended to prevent the fuse from operating as a result of its passage through the muzzle cover when the latter has accidentally been allowed 19 to remain in place.

The safety device comprises in the known manner an obturator which is situated on the path between the firing device of the fuse and the charge of the projectile and which is withdrawn under the action of the gases from a small charge of powder which is ignited when the shot is fired by an additional striking device (striker and percussion cap).

The safety device according to the invention, which is of this known type, is essentially characterized by the feature that the obturator is constructed in the form of a locking pin terminating externally at one end in 7 an enlarged head upon which the gases ignited by the striking device act directly or through the medium of a hammer in order to eject the said obturator, which gases may thus be formed in a duct having no communication through the fuse body with the lodgment in which the body of the obturator is housed so that no part of the gases produced by the striking device can reach the charge of the projectile.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation through a fuse of known type provided with the safety device according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view in section along the line 22 in Figure 1.

In these figures, b is a fuse body in which is mounted an extremely light percussion mechanism making the fuse extremely sensitive. This mechanism may be of any known type and the drawing shows, by way of example only a percussion device comprising in a common casing 11 a striker a and a percussion cap a the casing being normally held upon the fuse body by a pinch The safety device comprises an obturator arranged on the path between the firing mechanism and the. charge of the projectile in a transverse lodgment formed for this purpose in. the said fuse body.

According to the invention this obturator 0 comprises an enlarged head a which engages in a corresponding recess in the outer surface of the fuse body. One part c of this head 0 is arranged to be acted upon directly or through the medium of a hammer (Z movable in a lo'dgment in the fuse body by the gases froma charge of powder 7' placed in a duct in the fuse body, which duct has no communication through the fuse body with the lodgment holding the body of the obturator 0. In this duct, in which the charge is placed, is arranged a striking mechanism of any known construction comprising a striker 6 held separated from a percussion cap f by a spring 9. A grain of black compressed powder h is interposed between the percussion cap f and the charge j, and the duration of the combustion of this grain of powder will be regulated in such a way that it. will reach or even exceed one second for example.

A branch 2' leading from the duct iin which the striking mechanism, the charge and the grain of compressed powder h are placed, permits the gases produced from the said grain of compressed powder to pass away from the fuse. The locking bolt 0, c 0 forming the obturator is normally held by a pin on on the fuse body 6. In this bolt is formed a longitudinal duct 0 into which leads a vertical duct 0. accidental operation of thepercussion mechanism, the gases can escape throughc and c.

As will be seen from the drawing, the circuits provided for the passage of the gases produced from the percussion cap a of the firing mechanism and by the striking arrangement respectively are completely inde pendent from each other.

When at rest the members occupy the position shown in the figures. When the shot is fired the striker e of the striking mechanism owing to its inertia compresses a spring 9 and strikes the percussion cap f the flame from In the event of the which ignites the grain of compressed powder h. The combustion of this grain of powder is only completed at the end of a predetermined time when the projectile has reached a suitable distance from the muzzle of the gun. It is only at this moment that the charge 7' is ignited and thev gasesproduced by its explosion by acting upon the striker (Z, which may be rigid with the base 0 of the obturator, eXpels its members d, c

after shearing the pin m. Only then does the v communication duct is become free and permit the flame from the percusslon cap a to be transmitted to the charge of the projectile.

The pin holding the obturator in place may, when the hammer cl and the enlarged head 0 c are rigid with each other, befixed upon the hammer cl. I

Claims: i

1. Safety device for preventing the operation of supersensitive percussion fuses before the projectile reaches a sufiicient distance from the muzzle of the gun, the said safety device comprising an obturator which is arranged on the path of the gases between the percussionvdevice and the charge of the projectile and is adapted to be thrown out under the action of the pressure from a charge of powder which is ignited when the shot is fired. by a striking mechanism and being characterized'by the feature that the? obturator, housed in a transverse duct in the fuse body, is provided at its end which communicates with the outside, with an enlarged portion'upon which the gases produced .by the striking mechanism act directly or' through thefmedium of a hammer the powder produclng these gases and the strlklng mechanism being arranged in a duct havingno communicatlon through the fuse body with the duct connecting the firing mechanism with the charge of the projectile.

2. A safety device for supersensitive percussion fuses as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body'of the obturator forming bolt is partly pierced with a longitudinal duct into which leads a vertical duct, the arrangement formed by, the ducts permitting the gases from the percussion cap of the firing mechanism to be discharged in the event of the accidental operation of the latter. I

In testimony whereof I havesigned this specification.

NICOLAS EMILIEN METHLINL 

